Global Explorers: The Next Generation of Leaders

This book is valuable for two key insights. First, it highlights the difficulties with global development. It is very difficult and expensive to send promising leaders abroad. Many execs fail abroad. Those that succeed find their organizations back home aren't ready to utilize their new talents. This is a grim reminder of a key roadblock to corporate and personal success in global business. The second key insight is the difference in types of assignments for various points of an exec's career. Early on working on global teams and global projects in enough. The next level of depth comes from exposure assignments of multiple months. Tactical exposure works, because it unrealistic for someone to make a deep dive into another culture in just a few months. The top level of global development requires multiple years to make an extended contribution alogn with a deeper understanding of global issues. Explaining these levels of development make this a great resource for managers looking for a guide to their own development.

Because of lectures on how to prepare to be a global executive, I have read several books on this subject and highly recommend this one. The authors have performed extensive research on big multinational companies and were able to come up with a model that makes sense and is easy to understand and put into practice. The model is based on 4 sets of competences: inquisitiveness, perspective, character and savvy. After each set of competences, they use the example of an actual successful executive as a model. In my opinion, their model is even better than the widely known model from Terence Brake in THE GLOBAL LEADER: CRITICAL FACTORS FOR CREATING THE WORLD CLASS ORGANIZATION.